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Guest columnist: Diplomats have work cut out for them

I have great sympathy for career diplomats in the Trump era. They remind me of the guy with a broom who follows the elephants in a circus parade.

How do the peacemakers advance the interests of the nation when an irresponsible buffoon in the Oval Office keeps undermining their efforts? How do they wage peace when the president keeps sounding as if he would rather wage war?

The annual State Department briefing for members of the American Society of News Editors occurred just as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was reported to have called President Trump a moron. Trump responded by challenging Tillerson to an IQ test, thereby proving the secretary’s point.

None of the officials with whom we spoke would criticize the president. When asked if his actions complicated their tasks – and that question was asked more than once – they diplomatically evaded an answer. After all, they are diplomats.

When asked about Trump statements that seemed to challenge free expression, Francisco Palmeiro, acting assistant secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, noted statements the president had made in support of free expression.

And that is the dilemma when trying to figure out where Trump stands. He makes so many different statements, frequently contradicting himself, that it’s hard to know how he really feels. The optimistic view regarding foreign affairs is that his tough statements are meant to appeal to his hard-right base while his conciliatory statements represent his true views.

Consider North Korea. “I told Rex Tillerson … that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with” Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader. Trump said on Twitter. Yet, Tillerson insists Trump supports negotiations. “The president has also made clear to me that he wants this solved diplomatically,” Tillerson said. “He is not seeking to go to war.”

Joseph Yuh, deputy assistant secretary, Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, told us the U.S. strategy is to increase pressure while leaving room to engage.

And then there’s Cuba. Trump said Monday that Cuba is at fault for whatever has sickened U.S. diplomats and prompted the withdrawal of embassy personnel from Havana. This is a direct contradiction of the State Department, which has said repeatedly it does not know the cause of the illnesses, or who is responsible.

And what of the North American Free Trade Agreement? Trump has said often that the U.S. may withdraw. But Brian McFarlane, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, told us the goal was to renegotiate to address environmental, labor and small business issues and the digital age. McFarlane insisted Trump is a free-trader.

McFarlane did have one interesting insight regarding the Trans Pacific Partnership, the trade deal from which Trump withdrew the U.S. as one of his first acts in office. McFarlane said other TPP participants are biding their time, hoping that the U.S. reverses course.

We hope that will be the case. TPP was flawed especially in regard to protecting and increasing U.S. jobs. But to withdraw from the process leaves China in a strong position to set trade rules for that part of the world. Do we really want that?

On the terrorism front, we got the good news on Iraq and the not-so-good news on Syria from Terry Wolff, deputy special presidential envoy, Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Wolff told us how Iraqi forces, with U.S. aid, are steadily pushing ISIS back and showed us a map indicating most of the terrorists’ territorial gains have been reversed.

In Iraq, we have a reasonably organized government willing to do the fighting. In Syria, we have a far more complex situation with various groups pursuing their own agendas. We are seeing some successes, Wolff said, but suffer from having no national government that cooperates in the effort.

My day in Foggy Bottom left me admiring the efforts of our peacemakers and concerned that their efforts will be undermined from the Oval Office. The best-case scenario is that Tillerson is playing good cop to Trump’s bad cop, with the hope the president’s bluster will drive potential adversaries into the arms of the peacemakers.

The problem with this is it assumes the president has a level of wisdom and good judgment that has not yet been evident. What makes this scary is that the wrong word at the wrong time by someone wielding awesome power can have catastrophic consequences.

In the meantime, the peacemakers will have to keep their shovels handy.